What will be Wal-Mart's next hot product?

After Alice Brooks and Bettina Chen met at Stanford's graduate engineering program, they bonded over a common goal: how to demystify engineering for young girls.

"Bettina and I would often talk about why there aren't as many women in engineering programs as men," said Brooks.

Brooks' love for engineering was sparked when she was 8 and asked her father for a Barbie -- and was instead given a saw. "So I started to build things," she said. Chen liked to build things with her brother's Legos.

"We realized that the things we played with as kids got us excited about learning how things are made," said Brooks.

So the Stanford grads decided to teach girls the basics of engineering in a fun way. The result? Roominate, a dollhouse-building kits that comes with dozens of pieces to build rooms, make bunk beds, water slides, staircases, or chairs. The kit also includes connectors and a motor that can be wired up to make an elevator work or even light up the dollhouse.

A few thousand Roominate kits have been sold since the company was launched in 2012.

The Mountain View, Calif. startup is one of 20 finalists in Wal-Mart's contest. Roominate is up against Smart PJ's, Skribs Wristbands and Green Biscuit in the "Kid Stuff" category.